650cc Ascot TT

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

I came across this article, wasn't sure what to put it under, so thought i would post it here..............

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

The rest of the article

gs1327 · 650Rider Supporter Joined: Feb 20, 2007 Posts: 170

Wow. That is to me by far the nicest looking XS I have ever seen.

yamaman · Posted: March 25, 2009, 8:37 am Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

Cheers Skull, awesome! Another nomination to a read only forum!!!!

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

Kinda makes you wounder why it was never taken up......Has style............Yamaha lost it on the XS650

jayel · Posted: March 25, 2009, 11:20 am Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

650skull wrote:

Kinda makes you wounder why it was never taken up......Has style............Yamaha lost it on the XS650

Yamaha lost it on the XS650 Special.... they went with that late 70's faux chopper look

Retiredgentleman · Posted: March 25, 2009, 11:41 am Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

Beautiful bike. You could sell that type of bike to-day!

woodman · Full Member Joined: Oct 12, 2008 Posts: 256

Thats from an old issue of Classic Bike isnt it ?

Barbara · Posted: March 25, 2009, 1:48 pm Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

Cool! A unit twin Commando---they even slanted the engine forward like the original Norton.

So is it a Nortaha, or a Yamaton? Either way, I'd buy one, and if I could find a Commando rolling frame, I might even try mounting my spare XS engine in it.

It really is too bad Yamaha didn't manufacture that bike--it might have given the XS engine several more years of life. A slightly smaller version would have been great with the SR500 engine, too....

Very nice!

Barbara · Posted: March 25, 2009, 1:51 pm Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

I just noticed the small shot of Bob Trigg---yup, it's a Commando with the XS engine, all right. Trigg was a moving force behind the Isolastic suspension on the Commando....one of NVT's "Bright young Men" in those days.

Beautiful bike.....I want one.

jayel · Posted: March 25, 2009, 4:30 pm Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

someone should make up a kit... always like to watch those Norton engines jumping around in the frame while the bike was at idle

xs1961 · Posted: March 25, 2009, 4:59 pm Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

Tony Hall at HALCO used to sell the whole kit (minus the rubber mountings) and ready built Ascotts for a few years..Thers plenty around here..Had one myself.. I dont agree its the best looking XS ever though. Cool

oldskoolcool · Full Member Joined: Sep 08, 2007 Posts: 372

Quote::

Yamaha lost it on the XS650 Special.... they went with that late 70's faux chopper look

GIVE THIS MAN THE PRIZE!!!!

xs1961 · Posted: March 25, 2009, 7:42 pm Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

Ever ridden an isolastic norton? Pain in the arse they are..You either set 'em so they vibrate at low speed & enjoy smooth flat-out riding ,in which case the motor leaks & gives in after 500 miles , or set it to be comfortable at sub 50MPH pottering & shake your bollocks out of your sack everytime you hit an A road & the motor gives in at 100 miles..(take your pick)
Im glad Yamaha didnt go that route, there was no need, they vibrate far less than any Brit twin Ive ever owned.. besides - the mountings would just add more clutter & spoil the 'clean' look of the chassis..

drifter · Posted: March 25, 2009, 7:47 pm Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

>>Im glad Yamaha didnt go that route, there was no need, they vibrate far less than any Brit twin Ive ever owned.. <<

Agreed xs1961. I think that the new multis have spoiled people regarding vibration. Try riding a Honda 150 Dream (vert twin) at 70mph for 200 miles! Vibration!!?? Your teeth rattle for a day afterward!
Harley!!?? Shake your ancestors!
Norton 650 Atlas (pre isolastic)!!?? Rattle your bones!
Triumph 500 Daytona and Tiger!!?? See Norton Atlas above!
Yamaha XS650!!?? Comparatively smooth as a babies arse!

Dave

xs1961 · Posted: March 25, 2009, 7:51 pm Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

Hear Hear ! Well put Drifter Wink

penn71911 · Posted: March 25, 2009, 8:42 pm Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

So what you're saying is... I can rubber mount my motor and NOT have the frame fold in half when I hit the twisties hard?... Hummm... I was afraid it would weaken the frame... guess who's about to start fabricating? Wink

Barbara · Posted: March 25, 2009, 9:11 pm Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

C'mon, guys,

I've had a Norton 650SS (Not an Atlas--the Atlas was a 750 and a major vibrator!), a P11-A Norton (G80 Matchless frame and Atlas engine) before owning several Commandos.

The Isolastics need attention, and the early ones (pre-vernier adjustment) took an hour or so to shim, but if one took the time to do it right, the ride is amazing, even by today's standards. I've put 1300 miles on a Commando over two days in my youth, traveling between where I live (50 miles south of the Canadian border) to visit my parents in San Diego, and haven't been as tired as when I would put 500 miles on a Bonneville or TR6 Triumph.

That said, I freely admit that below about 1400 rpm, the front end bounced around, and the engine was always shaking like a spastic frog, but the ride was glass-smooth and I loved it. I'd Iso-mount my XS engine in a skinny minute if I knew how.

So....can ya tell I like Nortons? Laughing

drifter · Posted: March 25, 2009, 9:18 pm Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

So....can ya tell I like Nortons?

Don't get me wrong Barbara, I dearly love Nortons and would own another if I had the money. That being said, I will still agree that they were real vibrators.

Dave

jimmythetrucker · Full Member Joined: Mar 12, 2008 Posts: 1283

I once rode a customized BSA 650 Lightning from Yuma, AZ, to Los Angeles. The thing had pull-back bars on it and the vibration from the engine -- already enough to shake your teeth loose -- was amplified at the end of those long pull-backs. My wrists were asleep after 25 miles or so. It was the longest goddam 280-mile ride I ever took. I thought then and still think those British twins were vastly overrated, especially by today's standards.

It's like the legendary argument between the two old truckers: The one says "I don't care what anybody says, I'm tellin' ya they don't build trucks today like they used to." The other old trucker just grins and says: "Thank f***in' God!"

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

jayel wrote:

650skull wrote:

Kinda makes you wounder why it was never taken up......Has style............Yamaha lost it on the XS650

Yamaha lost it on the XS650 Special.... they went with that late 70's faux chopper look

jayal what i meant was Yamaha lost it by not pursuing the development of the XS.............. And It was the US market that was the catalyst for those SPECIALS............Maybe we should write to Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper and complain Laughing

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

oldskoolcool wrote:

Quote::

Yamaha lost it on the XS650 Special.... they went with that late 70's faux chopper look

GIVE THIS MAN THE PRIZE!!!!

standard /stan-duhd/ - n Object, quality,example or principle to which others conform or should conform.
special /spesh-uhl/ -adj Exceptional, out of the ordinary.
I guess you have one of those duhd's oldschoolcool Razz

jayel · Posted: March 26, 2009, 9:10 am Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

I agree, think what could have been if they had improved the charging system to bring it up to the same level as the TCI ignition, solid state no pissing around with brushes,

some work on the clutch to straighten it out, don't really care about pumpng up displacment, it's enough to get you arrested as is,

now for a cross country run larger bike would be nice but the 650 is good for a couple hundred miles a day so that works for me

Barbara · Posted: March 26, 2009, 1:04 pm Post subject: Re: 650cc Ascot TT

Jimmy,

Couldn't agree more about the BSA unit twins! Vibrators with bad brakes! But---that's precisely why NVT designed the Isolastic system. They hadn't the money to build a multi, so they isolated the vibration.....well, most of the vibration.

On a rally ride of over 200 miles in 2007, I had a chance to ride a nicely built BSA Lightning, with the timing-side conversion. It was a beautiful bike, and at the end of 100 miles, my hands were numb. My feet weren't far behind. I traded with a friend for the remaining 100 or so miles, and he rode the BSA, and I got to ride his Commando Interstate. OMG! What a difference. There really are two classes of British bikes: pre-Commando and Commando. The XS, in my opinion, isn't as smooth as a well set-up Commando, but much more smooth than a Triumph, BSA or pre-Commando Norton. That's why I bought mine in 1978. I could have gotten a T140 Triumph brand new, but the way that Yam ran, and the bright lights--new in my world!--convinced me. And I've never been sorry! I love my Brits, but when I go to Montana or California or wherever, I take the XS650.

Just, as ever, my opinion....

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